Six Feet Under
by Used to be Kerowyn 6 bye peeps
Summary: Sequel to Heroes of Haven. When investigating the disappearance of a LEPrecon officer in Central Park, Holly Short gets taken in by Camp Halfblood. Facing discrimination, a suspicious son of Jupiter, a new and outcast brother, and the unexpected arrival of Artemis, Holly attempts to navigate the strange world of the gods.
1. In Which Holly Uncovers Foul Play

**Thanks for waiting, guys! Here's the first chapter of the sequel to Heroes of Haven: _Six Feet Under. _**

**0o0**

It was the dead of night.

Sergeant Damien Jing of the LEP, a recon officer fresh from the traffic-clogged streets of Haven, was walking through Central Park in Manhattan, New York, USA. It was a standard mission- get in, look around, get out- and he wasn't being particularly attentive.

This turned out to be for the worst.

Suddenly, off to his right, he heard a strange snuffling noise, as though a large and overenthusiastic dog was searching for kibble on the ground.

If Damien Jing had had any experience whatsoever in surface missions, he would have shielded immediately and turned on night vision.

He didn't.

"Hello?" he called out. "Who's there?"

The noise stopped. Damien turned on the night vision.

The monster that had blended in so perfectly with the dark night was suddenly thrown into stark contrast with the dewy grass. It was six feet tall, with shaggy, overgrown hair and glittering eyes like two lamps. It growled.

"Oh," said Damien quietly. "Um. Hello there. Nice... doggy..."

The monster leapt.

**0o0**

"So what's all this about, then?" asked Captain Holly Short, pulling her helmet on over her short fringe of hair.

"Missing officer," replied Foaly. He seemed unusually sidetracked today. "Central Park, Manhattan, USA. About a month ago Sergeant Damien Jing, pixie, went to investigate rumors of a loose troll- nothing concrete, but LEP thought it worth checking. Jing never made it back." He snorted, something that, as a centaur, he did very well and very explosively. "Personally I think the kid got cold feet and has been hiding out with the gangs. This is New York we're talking about."

"Sounds about right." Holly had nothing but contempt for deserters. Anyone who got scared of a rumor certainly wouldn't be able to hold their own against a fact. "So what's my op?"

"Get in, look around, get out. Standard. If you happen to stumble across Jing in a goblin bar, you are to attempt arrest. If you find him and he's in trouble, call for backup. If you find him and he's dead, call for backup and a forensics team."

"You don't have to go through the entire process, Foaly, I know what to do."

"Oh, I know you do, but the commander seemed very definite about the 'call for backup' part. In fact, the backup you're supposed to call is him."

Holly was shocked. "What? That doesn't make any sense." She tightened the straps on her wings (an old model, the Swallows, but dependable and sturdy) and pulled on her boots.

"Search me. Old Trouble looked a bit antsy."

Holly knew for a fact that if 'Old Trouble' discovered Foaly was referring to him as such, there would be... well, trouble... but she didn't say anything.

"I'll leave Trouble to his preoccupations. This should be easy. Thanks, Foaly. See you soon."

And with that Captain Holly Short of the LEPRecon unit glided out the door and into the waiting shuttle.

**0o0**

According to her helmet readings, it was a cold morning in Central Park, but Holly didn't feel the chill.

She was back on the surface. She was on a mission. She was in her element. All she needed now was Artemis on the mike as well as Foaly, and this mission would be perfect. It was always nice to have two friends to make fun of as opposed to just one.

There was frost still on the grass when she touched down; it crunched delightfully under her boots. Holly felt a trill run through her. There was nothing like a surface mission to wake you up.

Looking around, she didn't see anything suspicious, although that was to be expected. It was weeks since Jing had disappeared. Any signs of a struggle, if there had been one, would have long faded.

She eased herself into a slow jog to scan the area in which helmet readings had last reported Jing to be. It was a relatively small space, so if there was anything to be found she should find it pretty quickly.

Off to the left, a grove of shivering trees; to the right, a clump of boulders like the archway to some ancient pavilion. Up above, off-white sky as far as the eye could see.

After doing a preliminary check of the terrain, she strolled over to the grove. The trees were tall and pale-trunked, aspens, probably, although Holly didn't pretend to be an expert in the local flora. They were singularly average. A closer examination upheld her assumption that if Jing had scrawled his last words onto something in Central Park, that something certainly wasn't one of these trees.

She crossed to the boulders. They really did look somehow mystical. Like Stonehenge if those menhirs had had weeds growing from between the cracks and a soda can set like some ceremonial artifact upon the crest of the tallest monolith.

Holly shook her head. "Stupid Mud People and their stupid Mud drinks," she muttered to Foaly, who snorted over the mike.

Taking a quick glance around, she unshielded, and stepped onto the first boulder, extending her arm to try to grab the litter, and as she reached she found herself suddenly face-to face with a green-gray blodge on the rock far too precise to be natural discoloration.

Holly screeched and lost her footing, tumbling down off her rock. It was only a foot down, but even so she scratched her calf rather roughly on an out-thrust rock. The sharp granite sliced through her suit's highly-sensitized fabric and through to the skin below.

Grimacing as she felt blood welling on her leg, she hoisted herself back up to examine the spot on the stone.

Her worst suspicions were confirmed. It was a dried-green color, and crusty like dried ointment.

It was, in fact, pixie blood.

Holly stared.

"Foaly. You seeing this?"

"You bet," came the voice through her com. "Looks like Jing wasn't a deserter after all. Poor kid. Wonder what got him."

"I don't know, but you bet I'm going to find out."

"Holly, remember what Trouble said-"

"Oh, quiet, Foaly, I'll call him in a minute. I'm just going to poke around a little more and then I'll call the commander."

"...okay."

She could tell Foaly didn't like it. She didn't know what had gotten into him today- normally he would have taken delight in encouraging her to try Trouble's patience.

But there was so much she could find on her own that she wouldn't be able to see with a team swarming over the place, though. First things first, however. She stretched out her leg in front of her and carefully peeled back the layer of bloody fabric.

It was a nasty little cut, but nothing a little magic wouldn't fix. Any moment now, the sparks would realize she was hurt... ah. That felt a lot better. Now to shield again before anyone noticed her poking around-

"Woah, cool."

The voice came from behind her. Holly spun around. Standing behind her were two Mud Girls, seemingly a little younger than Artemis, although Holly would be the first to admit that he probably wasn't the best model for age comparison.

One was short and petite, sweet-looking, with braces and hair in braids like Dorothy from that aggravatingly cheerful favorite movie of Root's. The other was taller, with a heavier build and a strong jaw framed by straight black hair that reflected the morning light.

"You must be a halfblood," said the short one. It was her who had spoken a moment before. "Whose kid? Apollo?"

Holly frowned. This was not the comment she had expected. "What?" she said intelligently.

"Whose kid are you," the girl repeated patiently.

Holly stared at her blankly. "My parents'...?"

"Lace, I don't think she knows," said the other, rolling her eyes. Then she looked at Holly. "Sorry about that. She tends to think everyone always knows what she's talking about. Her name's Lacy, by the way. I'm Jaime. Daughter of Iris."

Lacy elbowed her. "She doesn't know what we're talking about, remember?"

"Of course I remember. I'm just giving her some basis for comparison. So she doesn't think I'm your sister."

"Oh." Lacy grinned. "That would be highly awkward. For several reasons."

"Shush, you." Jaime elbowed her back.

Holly was now completely confused, and it apparently showed on her face.

"Oh, poor dear," cooed Lacy. "You've quite lost her, darling."

"_I_ lost her? You're the one who started the whole-"

"Okay, basically all the gods exist, and it's really awesome because we get cool powers, except not all of us do, like all Jaime does is make bad holograms, but that's better than me because I can't do anything, I'm a bit of a failure as daughters of Aphrodite go, I mean, look at me, I've got braces for Olympus' sake, but anyway, it's super amazing and you're probably one too and if not well OOOPS." She stopped suddenly, looking as if she was wondering whether or not to be worried about spilling the beans, and then apparently decided against it.

"Could you say that again, more slowly?" Holly asked.

Lacy nodded enthusiastically, but it was Jaime who answered. "Have you heard of Greek mythology?"

"Yes," Holly lied. _This is interesting. I wonder what Foaly is thinking._

"Great. This is going to sound crazy, but the gods exist. And they have kids. It's a good thing they aren't judged by the Christian God, because they'd all be in Hell for adultery if so. They really like to sleep around with mortals. So much so that there's two entire camps for their children, us, the halfbloods. Although one is for the Romans- ours is the Greek one." She paused to see if Holly was still with her. "And it seems like you're a halfblood. Normal people can't heal themselves with magic blue spark things."

Frowning, Holly nodded. "Okay."

This seemed to surprise the two girls.

"Really?" said Lacy, "You believe us?"

"Why not?" Holly started to improvise. "It would explain an awful lot. Once I saw a, um, a guy in the ocean who I'm pretty sure had a fish tail." _Fingers crossed for mermaids existing. Please..._

Jaime and Lacy seemed to buy it. "That sort of thing happens a lot to halfbloods," said Jaime.

"So do you wanna come with us back to camp?" Lacy asked.

"Just like that?"

"Well, you might want to talk to your parents first..."

"I don't have any," Holly invented. "They went on a hiking trip in Laos once and never came back."

"Oh," said Lacy after a moment's silence. "That sucks."

"Yes." Holly replied evenly, feeling slightly guilty about manipulating the girls into feeling sorry for her. "But I'm mostly over it now. I'd love to go to this camp."

Lacy grinned, and Jaime gave a small smile.

_See what I would've missed, Foaly, if I'd called Trouble right away? _The centaur had been strangely absent for the last few minutes, and he didn't reply now.

"Great," said the daughter of Iris, "Lace, let's bring her home."

**0o0**

**I'm going to try to update once every two weeks. I'm going to try to make each chapter 1.5k words or more. **

**Anyway, here you go! Please please please pleeeaaase review! Tell me what you think, what you want to see! The plot is pretty open at this point. Mainly it's about resolving stuff from the last book and bringing various characters together. So any request, especially if it's minor, had a good chance of carrying some weight. Unless it's "please stop putting LGBTQ+ characters in your writing, it's gross". I got a review a few months ago complaining about Nico and Percy stuff, and so I got annoyed and wrote in Jaime. If you're homophobic, you're reading the wrong fanfiction. It's not only slash, but the more intolerant complaints I get, the more slash relationships will pop up. **

**Adios for now,**

**Kero. **


	2. Keep Your BFFs Close

**OK. Hi. I know it's been a while, but here's a longer than usual chapter to make up for it. I had to split my chapter plan in two because it was just getting too long to handle. It's an awful lot of exposition, dialogue, introducing an OC who'll come in useful later, and various levels of witty banter. Feel free to skim, seriously. It's nowhere near professional, but I had an enormous amount of fun writing it, which I think is what matters.**

**I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

Jaime drove a very battered Volkswagen of the sort normally owned by late-middle-aged west-coast white men who go through life amiably and gregariously and entirely inconsequentially.

It had clearly have been through a lot. There were claw marks on the hood, the trunk lid seemed to have melted at one point, and the windshield needed a good cleaning. The thing had probably originally been some shade of light pink, but time and hard use had worn it to a particularly repugnant shade of ochre, with splotches of puce. Possibly a large cat had once used it as a litter box.

Jaime sighed at the sight of the car.

"Iris gave it to her," Lacy explained. "For her sixteenth birthday."

"It can get up to forty miles per hour on a good day," said Jaime morosely. "I'm going to win races with it, definitely."

Holly nodded, slowly. Cars were not exactly her area of expertise. She had never understood their attraction- they had an annoying habit of staying fixed firmly on the ground.

"Well. Everyone pile into the limousine." Jaime swung herself into the driver's seat next to Lacy, and Holly found herself stuffed in the back on leather seats smelling strongly of chai. She sneezed.

"You okay, Hols?" Lacy called back. "You, um, might want to take off your helmet thing. I didn't want to say anything, because I had a pretty radical steampunk phase a few years back, so who am I to talk, but the other campers might think it's a bit odd... the last biker chick we had blew up the Temple of the Fates..."

That was a good point. Holly had forgotten she was still wearing her helmet. If it looked like a 'biker' helmet, that was all for the better, but better not to take the risk at all. She'd shove it under the seat and 'forget' about it for the meantime.

She ran a hand through her stiff hair and suddenly remembered her ears.

Frantically, Holly reached down to her leg and ripped a stretch of fabric from her shredded uniform and tied it around her head like a headband. She had just finished adjusting it when Lacy looked back appraisingly.

"Nice headband. Very classic."

Phew. Now for the next obstacle...

"About this camp we're going to..."

"Camp Half-Blood," Jaime supplied.

"...yes. Is it inside a building?"

Holly could see Jaime frowning at her in the rearview mirror. "There are buildings in it, but the actual camp is outside," the daughter of Iris said at length. "It's protected by an enchanted border that only lets demigods through without invitation."

"And legacies," chimed in Lacy. "Don't be deminormative. We changed the enchantment, remember?"

"That might be a problem for me," said Holly. "I have to be invited into places to enter them. It's a curse. It's unbelievably inconvenient."

Lacey made a sad face. "That sucks, but don't worry. We'll invite you in. And we'll talk to some Hecate children and see if they can't lift the—pedestrian to the right! Abort! Abort!" She sighed dramatically. "Jaime, abort means you're not allowed to switch lanes."

"Whatever," grumbled Jaime. "I didn't hit anyone."

* * *

"Strawberry fields?"

"Yep. It's our income. Um, Hols, you can come in. Is that a good enough invitation?"

Holly stuck a foot through the archway. "Seems to be. Thanks."

"No prob. Okay, come on. I can't wait to show you everything!" Lacey jumped excitedly and dashed on ahead up the trail, dragging Jaime behind her and beckoning to Holly, who followed curiously.

It was the most picturesque human-owned property the elf had ever seen. The trees, silver-barked and cradled with ferns, arched gracefully over the path. Birds, hidden in the branches, whistled and crooned (the actual content of the calls was somewhat less than classical, as anyone with a gift of tongues could tell you, but Holly had grown accustomed to blocking out the meaning of background noise during mating season).

She was, reluctantly, somewhat impressed. You had to work to maintain such scenic scenery.

She was even more impressed when the trail opened up to a huge open space. Someone spent an awful lot of time around here watering the grass.

"So you're the newbie, eh?" The girl had appeared out of nowhere in front of Holly. She wore an angry scowl, but wore it familiarly, as though it was her default expression. Combat boots and a crew cut told Holly she was being addressed by something of a kindred soul.

She looked up three feet. A very tall kindred soul. "Holly Short. You?"

The girl snickered. "Holly Short indeed. What are you, part dwarf?" Maybe only a partially kindred soul.

"Just genes. What are you, part troll?"

"Why you little—oh, hi Lacey, Jaime. Just checking out the new meat."

"Cool!" Lacey grinned lopsidedly. "What have you been up to, Clarisse? I haven't seen you for a while."

Clarisse grunted. "Trees. New scouting system. We saw you guys come in," she added proudly.

Behind Lacey, Holly saw Jaime roll her eyes sardonically and shake her head slightly. No help from that corner, although Holly didn't really want it anyway. She could, and would, deal with bullies herself.

"Nice!" she spun on her heel and pointed uphill. "To the Big House!"

_That's a real inventive name, _though Holly. As they jogged on up through the damp grass, she glanced back at Clarisse. The scowl hadn't budged. In fact, it had intensified.

_Yay! Enemies! I seem to have a knack. Wonderful. _

As they got closer, Holly could see why they called it the Big House. It was massive. It dwarfed the stone temples she could see in the distance. Built out of wood, it was architecturally impressive; clearly Camp Half-Blood had some top-notch designers, although the leopard head she could see through the window detracted more than a little from its charm.

"Chiron?" called Lacey as they marched up the steps to the front porch. "Mr. D? We've got a new camper!"

There was silence, then a loud grunt from someone inside. "Okay. Bring them in."

It counted as invitation enough for Holly.

The speaker was a short man, badly-shaven, with a slight beer belly and red eyes. He didn't look the sort of person Holly would normally trust to care for children.

"Mr. D," began Jaime, "this is Holly Short."

Mr. D gave her a cursory glance, then took a sip of something in a plastic cup that looked suspiciously like wine.

"She's a new camper," Lacey prompted.

"I'd figured that, Leila," Mr. D snarked, "otherwise you wouldn't be introducing her to me."

"Lacey."

"Whatever."

Holly stared at him in fascination. _What a horrid man, _she thought. It took real skill to be this fundamentally unlikeable.

"So, is there anything you should be telling her?" prompted Jaime.

"Shut up, Jade. Don't put words in my mouth."

"Jaime."

"Whatever."

They waited.

"Fine," grunted Mr. D eventually. "Welcome to Camp Half-Wit, we hope you'll enjoy your stay, yada yada yada, have fun and don't get killed. Bye Lanie, Jasmine, Haley, don't hesitate to show yourselves out."

They didn't. Holly was very relieved to be out in the open again.

"He was… interesting," she said mildly once they were out of earshot. "What was his deal with the names?"

Jaime made a face. "There's this guy, Percy Jackson, who he really hates. It started with him. Then his friends. Then the friends of his friends. Then anyone who ever said something nice to him. Then the friends of anyone who ever said something nice to him." She shrugged.

"That last one is where you came in," Lacey added helpfully.

"He's a jerk," Holly decided.

"Amen to that."

"So, Jasmine, Lanie, where to now?"

Lacey pulled a face. "Dunno. Let's check with the roomers."

"Roomers?"

"There are different cabins which take the newbies until they're claimed," Jaime explained as she prodded them down the hill towards the temple things. "Default is the Hermes cabin, but if they're full sometimes Zeus and Poseidon help out. Lacey, is everything clear?"

Lacey put on an expression Holly presumed she thought of as her 'secret agent' face, but in fact looked more like someone with a severe aversion to the sun. "All clear, JJ. Feel free to pull out the contraband."

Holly stared in fascination as Jaime extracted from her pocket what appeared to be a completely normal touchscreen phone with the air of someone surreptitiously pulling out a gun. She typed something quickly, presumably a text, and then shoved it away again.

"I texted the Hermes cabin," she explained to Holly. "Someone should get back to me pretty quickly. They're usually monitoring the chat twenty-four-seven."

At this point Holly was completely mystified, but she nodded anyway.

There was a bing, and Jaime quickly checked her phone. "All good!" she said. "You're with the Hermes!"

Lacey squealed. "Awesome! You'll be staying with one of my besties. Come on, let's go introduce her!" She grabbed Holly by the hand and dragged her down the hill, much to the apparent amusement of Jaime.

The Hermes cabin was not quite what Holly had been expecting. It was incredibly dirty, for one thing, and for another it had probably been designed by someone with the idea that six, maybe seven kids would be staying there at one time.

This was not so. Holly made an estimate that fifteen people at least had sleeping bags on the floor. Most of them were just waking up—apparently it was only Jaime and Lacey who went for early morning walks in Central Park.

One of the few people who seemed to be fully awake bounded up to them as they came through the doorway.

"Holly, this is Surrey. He's a good friend of mine. You can sort of trust him. Ish."

The kid, who was maybe eleven years old with ruffled black hair, affected an expression of hurt that seemed just a little _too _sincere. "I'll look after her, don't worry. Lacey, I'm more mature now. You can totally trust me."

Lacey seemed to melt under his green-eyed, reproachful stare. "I know. Sorry, Surrey. It's just after last time… no more gambling, alright?"

"The magpies were _not _my fault," muttered Surrey under his breath. Then, louder, with a charming grin Holly didn't trust one bit: "Nice to meet you, Holly. I'll help you get settled in. And if you want any help making money, just come to me."

Jaime snorted. "Yeah, right. Don't try that BS on her, Surrey. She's smart." Ignoring Surrey's scandalized "I'm a kid, you oughtn't swear in front of me!" she turned to Holly. "If you think he's trying to trick you into somehow betting money on something, you're safe, just call him out and he should stop. If you actually believe he's not trying to manipulate you at all, run as fast as you can, cause you're more of an idiot than I thought you were. Other than that, hang with him, he'll look after you." She fixed the boy with a glare that would make half the LEP officers Holly knew shirk. "Right, Surrey?"

"Yes, Jaime," he said meekly.

"Okay!" Lacey grinned. "Nice to meet you, Holly! We'll let you get settled in for now, but if you ever want to drop in, feel free! You're nice! Have fun at Camp Half-Blood!"

And with that, they left, leaving Holly standing on the doorstep of a dormitory for Greek deities, having one of those strange existential crises in which one ponders just what the hell else exists that one hasn't heard of, and wondering if she would have to explain her 'curse' to Surrey, who she wasn't certain wouldn't try to blackmail her with the information or something.

She lucked out. Seeing her hesitance to enter the building, he gave her a quizzical look and said: "Well? Come on in."

Holly obliged, not vocalizing her sigh of relief as she followed nimbly after the little urchin.

Surrey led her to what was presumably his sleeping bag: shoved in the corner, with several books stacked next to it. There was a ring of space on the floor around it; apparently no one liked Surrey very much.

"Go ahead and put your stuff down. If you have any baggage cleverly hidden out of view, that is," the kid said, gesturing to the nice accommodating cement floor. He seemed to guess what she was thinking, as he added, "I hope you don't mind having no friends. They're gonna steer clear of you when they see who you're with."

Ah. A test. According to Jaime's rules, _spot he's being manipulative, and there's a chance that you will live._ So. Safe so far.

"Don't worry," she said dryly, studying his face, "I don't much care for going with the flow." She raised her eyebrows for good measure.

Surrey chuckled, as though being caught was the best thing ever, and gave her a smug smile. "I'm sure you and I will get along fabulously. Wanna play a game?"

"What sort of a game?" asked Holly suspiciously, sitting down carefully and pursing her lips.

"Well, we could play go fish, or spot the card, or something. I know Jaime warned you against cards, but honestly, I'm not gonna hurt you. Jaime's just mad I beat her at Twister last week, so she's trying to get people to avoid me. I wish she wouldn't. I don't have many friends as it is." He looked so forlorn, Holly almost believed him. Almost.

"Surrey," she said evenly, "There is no way in hell I'm trusting someone whose first action as a friend is testing me to see whether I want to be part of the popular crowd, and whose second is trying to manipulate me into spending all my money. You're a liar—" she held up a hand as he opened his mouth, affronted—"but I'm not saying you're a bad person or anything. I'm just not going to let you steal my money. Not that I have any on me at the moment."

He sagged for a moment, but then looked up at her again, chipper as ever. "Wow. That was impressive. Do you have any idea how many people I've taken in with that?"

"No, and I don't want to."

Surrey stuck out his tongue at her. "Spoil sport. So, whose kid are you?"  
"I don't know." Holly blinked. "Isn't that why I'm here in the Hermes cabin?"

"Fair point. Mom or dad?"

"Both dead, so no idea."

"Heh. Join the club." Surrey didn't look like he found it funny. "I'd say you're Athena, cause you saw through my _harmless_ little prank, but you're not blonde, so I'm actually gonna go with Hermes. Or… do you have any powers?"

Holly took a deep breath, made a split second decision, and dove. "Yes. I can heal people." She didn't miss the envious look in his eyes. _There's a story there, somewhere._

"Apollo, without a doubt. Healers, the lot of them. Do you sing? Write poetry? Shoot stuff?"

"I like shooting stuff," Holly admitted.

"Yep. Apollo, like I said." Surrey lay back against his green and yellow sleeping bag.

_This whole 'daughter of' thing is something I'm going to have to deal with, _she realized. _No one's going to claim me. _

"Are there people who don't get claimed?" she asked casually.

"Yeah. Me, for one. Been here since I was seven. Never got claimed," he said bitterly. "Percy Jackson made some sort of deal with the gods, a while back. Said they had to claim their kids. Course, he's Percy Jackson. An idiot. So he didn't say what would happen if they didn't. Just warned against making more Lukes." _Another story for later, _Holly thought as Surrey shrugged. "Whoever my parent is, they suck and clearly don't care about their children being evil villains. I don't even know if it's my mom or my dad. Whatever. I'm perfectly happy in this den of thieves."

"It seems like you fit right in with that description," Holly said sardonically.

Surrey grinned. "You're kinda cool. Wanna be my partner in crime?" he asked slyly. "You can pick their pockets while they're watching the cards. I'll teach you."

_Oh god, it's like dealing with a little trickster thieving Artemis. _"Thank you for the kind offer, but no."

"Oh, well. Worth a try. So what about BFFs?"

"After five minutes of knowing me?" asked Holly dubiously.

"Than what about FFs? Friends Forever. Until I figure out a way to steal your money and you freak out like everyone else."

"Surrey, stop trying to get me to feel sorry for you."

This time he laughed out loud. "You're really awesome, actually. Okay, not FFs. But I'll show you around."

And with that he dragged her back up and pulled her out the door.

* * *

"…and this is the Zeus cabin. There's like two guys who live there a demi and some sort of legacy to the eighth. The demi can be kind of a jerk if he catches you stealing but other than that he's pretty cool. His name's Jason. The legacy is seriously one of the most boring people I've ever met."

They had stopped in front of the largest of the temple-cabins. It looked like a Mud Man bank, in Holly's opinion. A little too showy for her tastes.

"Isn't this one of the cabins that hosts the unclaimed? Zeus and Poseidon?" she remembered.

"Yup," Surrey said, popping the p. He was actually quite a good guide, although he did occasionally stop to deface buildings with insulting graffiti. "Actually, a girl from the Hades cabin offered theirs," he pointed to an ominous looking building constructed from black stone, "but of course no one wants to sleep there."

"Why not?" asked Holly curiously.

"Well, the girl, Hazel, is pretty nice, but she spends most of her time at the Roman camp, so it used to be just her brother, who's a bit like me in that people try their absolute best to avoid him at all times. But I haven't seen him around here for a while, so I think it's abandoned right now."

Before they could move on, the door to the Zeus cabin opened, and a blond head was stuck out.

"Surrey?" the young man asked doubtfully. "What are you doing here? I told you next heist I'd report you. And who's this, your partner in crime?"

"You know, I _told_ her she should join me!"

"And I objected," cut in Holly, "for very good reasons. Namely, I'm not a thief. Are you Jason?"

"That's me." He cast her a strange look. "What's your name?"

"Holly Short. I'm new. Surrey's showing me around."

"Someone let Surrey show around the newbie?" he looked aghast. "Why?"

"Oh, shut up," Surrey grumbled. "I can be trustworthy. Very occasionally."

Jason shook his head, apparently mystified. "Whatever. Nice to meet you, Holly. Has anyone told you about the games tonight?"

"Games? Nope. Board games, or party games, or what?"

"Giant water balloon/snowball/fire ball/whatever you have on hand fight," Jason informed her, grinning. "It gets a bit violent, but it's a lot of fun trying to incapacitate the other teams. Winner gets free pies."

"I like free pies," said Surrey, gloomily.

"Yes, but you're not allowed to participate after last time. Enchanted villainous birds are generally frowned on."

"So whose team am I on?" asked Holly before Surrey could start another long-winded excuse.

"Well, seeing as you're new and unclaimed, how about mine?" Jason suggested, a bit too readily. _Something very, very odd is going on here. Still, might as well._

"Sure," she said gracefully. "Is there anyone else on it?"

"Umm… Leo, Will, Drew, Clarisse… not that those names will mean anything to you… and I think Leo mentioned something about a few Demeter kids, too." He counted the names off on his fingers, which were, Holly noted, heavily scarred.

Surrey whistled. "That's a good team, even if Drew's a jerk. What about Piper?"

"She's on some team with Annabeth and Calypso. They said something about being able to kill us _and_ Drew in one foul swoop, and that somehow made them really excited. Well, see you two around. I've got to make some preparations. Holly, why don't you come by my cabin at about six? I'll introduce you to the others at dinner. Then we can head out to our secret hideout in the woods. Nice to meet you! Also, Surrey, Chiron would like me to remind everyone in the Hermes cabin that phones are punishable by three hours with bad elevator music, and that there's a reason they're banned. Could you spread the word?"

And without waiting for an answer, he shut the door.

"Yeah, cause that's gonna make me even more popular than I already am," Surrey snarked. He glanced up at her, looking slightly disappointed. "Looks like someone was a hit with the golden boy. Bye-bye FF. I guess it stands for Former Friend." Casting her one more wounded glance, he darted off and vanished.

Holly didn't bother calling after him. If he wanted to be an emotionally manipulative jerk, that was his problem. She understood completely why he didn't have many friends.

* * *

Dinner was truly amazing.

Holly had never tried much American food, as Artemis seemed to hold a high level of disdain for anything that cost under $50 per pound.

Still, she had to admit, somewhat reluctantly, that veggie hamburgers were delicious, even with the best part of the burger thrown into the fire.

Surrey still wasn't talking to her, so she migrated over to the Aphrodite table to join Lacey and Jaime (who had hijacked it as well). No one seemed to mind.

"So how'd it go?" Jaime asked when she sat down. "Did Surrey trick you into doing something stupid?"

The elf snorted and, against her better instincts, grabbed another soy patty. "No, but he tried. When I didn't fall for it he got super impressed and declared us to be FFs, which is apparently like BFFs except not quite as good. Then he got annoyed when someone called Jason offered me a place on his team, and ditched me. He's been ignoring me ever since."

Jaime who was doubled over with laughter, so much so that Holly started to chuckle as well, until the daughter of Iris choked on something.

"That," said Jaime, after Lacey had finished giving her the Heimlich maneuver, "is so traditionally Surrey it's hilarious. I don't know how Lacey puts up with him, but then again, Lacey puts up with everybody, even Clarisse."

"I don't put up with _everybody_," Lacey defended, as though it was some sort of insult, "I hate Drew. I hated her enough I helped Surrey prank her."

"Drew…" Holly said thoughtfully. "I think she's on the team with me tonight."

Jaime doubled over again. "Let me get this straight," she said once she had recovered. "You're on a team that has both Jason Grace and Drew Tanaka? That's going to be hilarious. Who else?"

"Umm… Clarisse? She's the one who had scouts in the trees, right?"

When Jaime hadn't straightened up in several minutes, Lacey very calmly took a glass of water and poured it all over the girl's hair.

Jason's voice interrupted Holly's giggles. She turned. He stood behind her, along with another girl she didn't recognize, who was strangely beautiful even in clothes that looked, to put it politely, like they'd spent the last two years sitting in a dumpster.

"Hey, Holly," he said, smiling. "Lacey, Jaime. Holly, this is Piper, my girlfriend, a daughter of Aphrodite. Piper, Holly. She's on my team tonight," he explained to Piper.

Piper smiled warmly, and her eyes twinkled. "Hi. Nice to meet you. So this is your first day at camp? Whose kid do you think you are? Unless you're a legacy, in which case sorry to have automatically assumed you're a demi."

_Again, the whole claiming thing. Is it the only thing that matters to people? _"To be honest, I have no idea. I don't even know if I'm a legacy or a demi," she said fluidly, as though she understood exactly what the terms meant.

"Oh, don't worry about it. It doesn't really matter," Piper said comfortingly. "Also, you've got a good team, but you're going down." She made the 'I'm watching you' symbol, and then smiled again. "Don't worry about it. Jason'll take care of you. Right, Jason?"

"Right. Come on, Holly, let's go meet the gang."

* * *

"Will, Holly; Holly, Will. She's on our team tonight. Wonderful, now you've met. And that's Drew over there, and the one on his illegally acquired phone is Leo—Leo, get off your phone!" Jason drew back, his hand on his heart. "Good gosh and golly, that was rude! I am appalled at your lack of manners, Valdez!"

It was all a lot to take in. The gist of it was, though, that Holly was in with a good part of the Camp's crème de la crème. And it made no sense.

_Why? What is it that Jason sees in me? Why is he taking me so readily into the fold? _Unbidden, one of Artemis' sayings drifted across her mind. _Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. But if that's it, what is it I've done that has warranted such a close watch on the part of one of the most powerful people at camp?_

_ What is it he thinks I'm going to do?_

* * *

**There ya go! Please tell me what you think. **

**Also, if anyone can spot the specific Marvel character Surrey's based on, well done. My hint to you is that even being named after an English county isn't as weird as being named for the French translation of "lock". **

**Why did I put a random Marvel character in my story? Well, why not? After all, someone's got to be an ambiguous anti-hero when Nico starts getting more IC.**

**Please review! I know it wasn't the most conclusive chapter, but it was fun to write, and I hope it was fun to read.**


	3. Declare Me a God and Crucify Me

**Well, that whole 'update every two weeks' thing is going wonderfully.**

**NOTE: I'm starting high school on Monday, and it may take me a while to update because of stuff to do with that. Although considering how sporadic my updates have been as it is, I'm not sure you'll notice a difference.**

* * *

The game was at night, which Holly was glad for. She liked the dark, and the dark appeared to like her, unlike Leo "This is a prototype 9Messager, not a phone" Valdez, who had already tripped three times. Holly suspected the last to be an excuse to set Jason on fire.

Drew and Will were arguing over something to do with a movie Holly hadn't heard of; Jason was still going on about the phone to Leo, who wasn't listening; and the girl introduced to Holly as Katie was yelling at her half-brother Garrett about how Nemesis Fly Traps had been illegal since 1794, and there had never been any push to legalize them, and how she really ought to report this to Mr. D.

It was, at first glance, the most dysfunctional team Holly had ever been on, and she had worked with Root and Artemis, frequently on the same mission.

Clarisse had been silent. Glowering ahead with the ferocity of a lioness on the prowl, as though the forest ahead would soon be feeling her claws, she had marched on, until a stray glance in Holly's direction made her lessen her focus.

"This isn't a normal team," she said, surprisingly softly.

Holly shot her a questioning glance.

"The people on it are all wrong," the big girl reiterated. Holly had to strain to catch her words, quiet under the whistling of the wind through the branches. This was clearly not a commentary meant for any ears but hers. "I don't know how the Demeter kids ended up here, for one. And Jason and Leo have been on iffy terms for the past few weeks after the YouTube incident. Will hates Drew with the passion with which most people hate Drew, and Drew returns it with the passion which Drew hates most people." She paused for a moment. "Actually, that's not that stand-outish, everyone on this team hates Drew."

"Gee, I wonder why," Holly muttered. Drew's first comment to her had been about finding a new foundation.

"And then there's you," Clarisse continued, not even pausing for breath. "Innocent, likeable, and just plain _wrong _little you."

Holly stiffened, blinked.

"I'm not an idiot, you know. You're weird. Your proportions are all wrong. Your headband is off-kilter in a very purposeful way. And if having two differently colored eyes is considered normal, then my name's Drew Tanaka. Which it isn't, cause I woulda shot myself it was." Clarisse snorted mirthlessly. "So spill the beans, kid. What's up?"

But Holly had had time to relax, or at least to ease herself into the role of it. "I don't see that it's any of your business," she said lightly, "but nice try anyway. No more time for deductions anyway, Sherlock."

Clarisse glowered, but didn't say anything else as the team circled around and stood on one side of their clearing and Jason tried to get everyone's attention.

"Okay, guys. Given the, um, last-minute nature of our team, we haven't had much time to put together a comprehensive plan. So here's what we have: Clarisse, you take two other people to scout out where the other teams are. If sabotage is a viable option, go for it."

Clarisse nodded. "I'll take Will. And... Holly," she said, tilting her head slightly and watching Jason's reaction through eyes like slits.

He barely missed a beat. "You do that. And look after her, she's new, we don't want her wandering off and getting lost. Never let her out of your sight. The rest of us will stay here and wait for you to give us something to attack."

It was all Holly could do not to burst out laughing. Instead, she channeled her energy into sounding very apprehensive. "Um, excuse me? What are the rules?"

"Oh! Rules." Jason laughed nervously. "Of course. One: if you get captured by another team, you might be offered a deal. Maybe compensation for your information, and you can accept, although the rest of us appreciate it if you didn't. That leads to rule two: no acting for offense once you're captured. You just have to sit there, unless you can escape. That's about it. The game ends when there's only one team left. There you go."

"And the Hecate cabin made us all wrist bands to count who's out and which teams have the most players and stuff," the girl called Katie said. "Jason has them." She glanced up at their apparent leader, who was staring into the distance with a vague expression. "And he's going to pass them out now. Right, Jason?"

He blinked. "What?"

"The wristbands."

And that was that. Holly got her wristband, handed to her by a frowning and distracted Jason, whose mind was clearly stuck somewhere very, very far away and was refusing to come home to him. She, the boy called Will, and Clarisse, who was glaring at the sky, snuck off to do scouting duty. Katie started to yell at Garrett again, this time backed by Drew, and Leo was attempting to set fire to the rain.

And then it started to rain. Not satisfying, angry rain, but a sort of depressing drizzle that said that the clouds were feeling very half-hearted and melancholy about everything, and that, in an act of true charity, they wanted to spread that depression and mediocrity to everyone under them.

The conch horn sounded, a thin wail that spattered through the _plunk _of rain on leaves and told them that now they could begin hunting down their friends and enemies and those in between, and attack them with as much gusto as they could muster.

"I'm Will," Will whispered as they crept through the trees.

"I know," Holly whispered back.

"Shut up," hissed Clarisse.

They obliged.

The first person they spied was a tall girl, heavily built, with dark skin and hair to match, pulled into a tight, strict bun and speared through with what was, as far as Holly could see, a stiletto in a sheath. She was scowling in concentration, green sparks running up and down her arms like ants.

"Lou-Ellen from the Hecate cabin," Will informed Holly under his breath.

"Shut up," hissed Clarisse again.

"You want to be careful of her," he continued, completely disregarding the Ares girl, which seemed to Holly to be extraordinarily unwise. "She's got magic. Powerful. And she's not bad with that knife either. It's too bad Percy—oh, never mind."

"What's she making?"

"Dunno. But it's Lou-Ellen, so they'll probably be dangerous. Magiballs, Leo calls them. Sometimes she sets them on fire as well. Too bad we don't have a magician. Most of the time those things will keep you down with magical charges or some such thing. I have no clue how they actually work, but we can't let her get to the others. They have no defense for this."

Holly gave this some thought. "The... magiballs... are strictly offensive?"

"Put it like this, kid," said Clarisse roughly, " If you end up in the infirmary, it's going to be these things that put you there, and they're not going to get you out."

"So if you had healing magic could you disable them?" asked Holly innocently.

The rain dripped off of Clarisse's scrunched-up face. "What do you mean? And why?"

But Will had jumped onto her train of thought, and was adding a carriage of his own. "They're potential injuries!" he hissed excitedly. "That's it! So I infuse something with healing power... but what? And anyway..." His face fell. "I don't really have healing magic, just energy. I don't think that's going to work."

"I do," said Holly quietly, stowing Will's information away in her head. "I have healing magic. It looks exactly like what Lou-Ellen's using, just blue."

They turned to stare at her; one grinning face, one glowering, both from a world that was careening dangerously near hers.

"Fabulous," Will said, a little too loudly.

In the clearing in front of them, Lou-Ellen stood up, a magic projectile at the ready, and the three in the bushes saw what they had been supposed to miss.

The ambush. Two half-bloods, dressed in a gray that faded into the shadows of the trees, changed position, their projectiles at the ready. One stepped forward and started mouthing something to Lou-Ellen, who managed to project the idea of a face-palm without actually moving her hands. She hissed something back at him, he looked bashful, and faded back into the trees as Lou-Ellen settled back down and continued working, apparently comforted by the lack of a follow-up noise.

"Leave them to me," Clarisse instructed, and the twisted smile on her face would have terrified anyone who hadn't worked with Domovoi Butler time and time again. She crawled through off through the underbrush until her two comrades lost her from sight.

"Pine cones," said Will thoughtfully.

"What?"

"We throw pine cones at her magic," he extrapolated, excitement starting to course through his eyes. "I give you my healing energy and you put healing magic mixed with that energy into a pine cone."

"Which we throw."

"Yes!"

Holly shrugged. "Alright. It's got to be worth a try." She grabbed one of the cones so generously strewn across the forest floor. "You do your thing, and I'll try to put healing magic into... a... pine cone. Okay."

Putting his hands on her shoulders as though he were about to give her a back massage, Will breathed out steadily and Holly felt a rejuvenating surge give her body new energy. She focused her magic on the dry cone. It didn't do anything at first, but then one brave spark boldly forged out for new land and hopped from her finger.

The cone in her hand glowed, stiffened, and developed a new weight as the sparks died down.

It looked younger. Healthier, certainly. But not at all magical.

"Congratulations," she whispered to Will, "we have done a noble deed and given this innocent soul new life."

"Ooops. Oh, well... could you make a magiball of your own? A healing one?"

She hadn't thought of that. It wasn't something she knew of anyone trying before.

"I don't know. Possibly. Let's give it a shot."

This time, she focused the magic into her cupped hand, letting it surge up and down her palm as it tried to find a way back into the flesh from which she had cast it out. She molded it like dough until she held in her a glowing ball of bright blue sparks, about the size of a golf ball, with a translucent, pearly outer casing of Will's healing energy.

"That is so cool," Will muttered in awe, and Holly was inclined to agree with him. No one, to her knowledge, had ever attempted anything like this.

There came a series of sounds from the trees on the other side of the clearing: a rustling, a scurry, and then just the rain.

Lou-Ellen stood up carefully, a cigarette lighter in her hand and a brilliant ball of green light humming in the other.

"Throw it," hissed Will.

Holly didn't need to be told. In half a second she had sighted, aimed, prepped, and released the blue ball of healing magic. It soared through the air straight towards Lou-Ellen, and erupted in a shower of sparks, putting Holly in mind of the LEP's condensed water pellets.

The lights floating around the daughter of Hecate sputtered out of existence, and the clearing was plunged into semi-darkness.

* * *

When they returned, carrying three bound demigods behind them, Jason and the others had amassed their own set of prisoners.

"We got Joya to spill after Leo threatened to set her bed on fire," Katie explained. "Martin and Cora haven't cracked yet."

"Ohmigod, we got Lou-Ellen?" Leo exclaimed, "Yes! Fire is my thing. No one is allowed to steal it without getting caught by the Leo."

"Leo, _we_ caught them."

"...or his friends."

"According to Joya, Piper's team is somewhere near the Tall Pines. She was the only member of her team that escaped the encounter with them," Jason informed them.

"They've got trip wires," Joya piped up. "A lot of them. And you think you've got them set up in an ambush and then it turns out they've ambushed you. A bit like an onion. Lots of layers of ambushment."

Just then, the conch sounded- ten sharp, staccato notes like blasts from a gun.

"Ten teams left," their leader said shortly.

"Oh, cheer up, Jason. It's not a fight to the death. That's good news." Will was seeing to the ankle of one of their prisoners, which was swollen and bruised the colour of the dark sky.

"I've got other things on my mind, Will, than winning this game!"

Clarisse stood, her hands hanging loosely at her sides. "I think it's time for you to take a breather, Jason," she said evenly. "You're distracted. I'm not questioning your military genius, but you're in no fit shape to be leading us now. Sit down against that tree and if you say a word I'll punch you."

The son of Jupiter looked like he was going to argue, but when even Leo stared at him seriously he complied and slumped down on the roots of their massive home base tree, glaring off into the distance.

"All right, gang. I'm your new leader while Jason is... recuperating. No more splitting up, we've got too many prisoners for that. Joya. Want to join our team? Pie will be involved, as well as not getting beat up."

The girl nodded enthusiastically. "Really?"

"Yep."

"Oh, yes! They've got my boyfriend. Annabeth's team. I am separated from him by physical barriers, but our hearts still beat as one, and every drop of rain from the heavens is to me like one of his kisses."

"Okay, honey," Drew was picking at her nails. "Stow the sweet talk, got it? It needs some work."

"Great," Clarisse continued, undaunted. "Joya, take inventory of what we have and make it all accessible. Jason— watch the prisoners. From now on you're our jailguard."

He nodded tersely, but didn't say a word as their new leader ploughed on.

"Drew, you're bait. Shut up, I'm not finished talking. Wander around looking annoyed and sassy. It shouldn't be hard. If someone makes a move to capture you, stall them with your charmspeak. Just long enough for one of us to get to you; we'll be watching you like hawks."

The daughter of Aphrodite gave them a sneer, but didn't object.

"Will, do whatever you can. Just... oh, you know. Help people. Throw things. Stuff like that. Katie and Garrett, trip people up with your plants. Holly, grab a bunch of net balls and stuff, and use your magic if it works offensively. Leo, set stuff on fire. Everyone understand?"

They nodded, and Leo sent a fireball shooting up into the air high above the tree-tops.

"_Come and get us, people!_" he screamed up into the swirling rain.

They tried to. Forty-five minutes later the pool was down to three teams, Holly's included, as well as Piper's, their apparent nemesis. The other was headed by someone called Nyssa who, according to Clarisse, was not to be trifled with. Leo appeared to disagree quite verbally, but Holly noticed he didn't protest Clarisse's order to stay at their camp instead of hunting for her.

In the end, they didn't have to. In the time since they had last glanced at their wrist bands, all but one of Nyssa's team had been captured, and the sole remaining player ran right into Drew, pushing her to the muddy ground.

She was not happy.

"Look on the bright side, Drew," Will was telling her, "You're adding a lot to the team. We have a new informant!"

And indeed, the boy named Jacob was singing like a bird on an adrenaline high. Annabeth's team had a horde of prisoners. Annabeth's team was down three players, Piper included (Holly noted that Jason seemed rather disappointed at this; clearly personal was important). Annabeth's team was at Slightly-Less-Tall Pines, nursing their wounds and counting their prisoners.

Annabeth's team was vulnerable.

"All right, people, we're moving out," Clarisse ordered briskly. "Joya and Jacob, you're with us. You're not allowed on offense but I'll be damned if we can't make some use of you defensively. The rest of you prisoners, stay here. If any one of you tries to escape, I will hear about it and I will make your puny little lives an utter misery. Got it?"

The tied-up heap nodded tersely, shivering and drenched from the cold rain.

They moved quickly, boots stamping into the ground, net-balls, fireballs and (Leo's invention) dragon-hug-balls at the ready. On the way, Holly thought. She thought about Jason, whose behavior was obviously strange and whose recognition of her was just plain obvious (of _her? _Or of what she was?). She thought of Clarisse and her observations on the team, and of the _Percy _that Will had mentioned. What had he said? _"It's too bad Percy—" _

What? No one had mentioned a Percy on one of the other teams. So who was he? _Where _was he?

But they had come to Slightly-Less-Tall Pines, a tightly-packed grove of trees backed by a small cliff.

"Spread out and look for the guards," commanded Clarisse. "They'll probably be from other teams to conserve offensive players, but they'll be told to put up an alarm. Don't give them that chance if they see you. If they don't come back here and remember their location. If you see an offensive player alone, I don't think I have to tell you to steer clear. That's Avoiding Ambush 101. Let's go."

But there was no one. No guards, no offensive players and, for all they could see, no camp.

Realization hit Holly like a brass knuckle. "Clarisse!" she hissed. The girl turned. "Clarisse, we have to get out of here!"

Clarisse was nodding. "Guys, we're leaving. If they come, we're pinned against the cliff. Let's go."

But when they turned, it was already too late. Piper was standing behind, what looked like a net-ball at the ready, very decidedly not captured, and backed by a complete team. A blonde girl behind her was smiling satisfactorily.

"Yes," she said lightly, "That's the whole point."

And the team threw.

"You knew," whispered Clarisse to Holly as they lay caught in the nets and the conch horn sounded for victory. "You knew they were already here."

And Holly shrugged, because there wasn't much you could say to that.

The blonde girl had leant down to Joya and Jacob and was helping them out of the ropes. "Well done, you two. You get pie."

"It's a good thing you're getting your reward from them," Leo pouted, "because you are getting so little pie from us it occupies a negative space."

"That would mean that you're gonna take our pie," Jacob pointed out.

Leo gave this some thought, and seemed to like it. "Well, that wasn't what I meant, but it seems like a good idea."

"But you promised us pie!" Joya protested.

"When we didn't know you were a conniving backstabbing little—"

"But you did promise. I checked. I asked 'really', and you said yes. So you owe me at least pie, if not Jacob."

"But we don't have any pie!"

"Well, you never included possible loss of the game in the contract. You better get some pie real quickly."

"She's got a point," Holly said grudgingly.

"Traitor," hissed the son of Hephaestus, but he didn't refute Joya's claim to pie any more.

The other campers were filing in under the cliff now, sore, soaked, and pie-less. They formed a semi-circle, gaping at the little group under the overhang, and it took a moment for Holly to realize they were staring at all. But they were, at a spot on the cliff face slightly above her head.

Or no, not on the cliff face, but in the air.

Leo had seen it now too. "Oh."

"What does it mean?" Holly asked, bewildered, but no one answered.

The crowd was parting, making way for a centaur carrying a conch, a bow, and a quiver of arrows. He looked nothing like any centaur Holly had ever seen, but the others were paying him no undue attention.

"That's Chiron," whispered Joya from next to her.

Chiron crossed the open space and came to stand adroitly in front of her. He appraised the symbol, appraised her, and knelt slowly on the ground.

"Hail, Holly Short," he began, his voice deep, "daughter of Hades."

_No. No, this isn't right, I have two parents who are very much my real parents—_but there was no sense in saying that, and now the campers were looking about and clapping uncertainly, and Holly was completely out of her depth and stood, uncomprehending, in the rain and the dark under the cliff.

* * *

There was an old hose behind her cabin that served for mist, and Clarisse had one of Leo's more practical inventions; the rainbow flashlight. It was cheating, but Iris had never protested.

She flicked a drachma through the prism and waited.

He picked up. That was surprising. "Clarisse? Oh. Um. Hello. How are you?"

"Yeah, cut the crap, kid, you've got a sister. You better show up. I know what this used to mean to you, probably still does, so if you don't show up within two days' time I'll hunt you down and break your neck."

He didn't say anything, which she chose to take for a yes. Just as she was going to switch of the rainbow beam he spoke.

"Thanks. And… it's… nice to hear from you." His voice was so hesitant, so unsure that Clarisse couldn't bear to make another sharp remark.

"It's nice to talk to you too, Nico. You look after yourself. And stop moping, it's not doing you any good. That's an order. Now have a good night, and I should be seeing you soon."

The faintest traces of a grin appeared on his face. "It's day here."

She rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Until next time."

"Yeah," he said softly.

She cut the connection, and sighed.

* * *

**WAIT! STOP! DON'T LEAVE! NOTHING IS AS IT SEEMS!**

**I'm not sure how well I succeeded in writing Clarisse. She's a tricky one for me. Bye!**


	4. AN GOOD NEWS!

**Hey guys! Hold in there! Chapter 4 is- wait for it- ACTUALLY HAPPENING! GASP! I know, right? After three months' worth of tumblr and reading, Kero is finally working on Six Feet Under. It's probably the only one of my ongoing fanfics I'll be writing for in a while, but that's better than none of them. To tide off your patience, here's a snippet from the upcoming chapter:**

"What a warm welcome," Holly commented. She sat down abruptly on her own bunk.

"I am famous among the campers for being a very warm and fuzzy individual. You're Holly, right?" He managed to indicate, by a minute change of expression, that she had passed cursory examination and would now be subject to a skeptical glare.

"Yep. And you're Nico, complete with angst and dark hair. I think my life has a type."

He stared at her for a beat. "Yeah, I'm not even going to ask. Do you like burgers? Awesome. Let's go to McDonalds and figure out how the hell you happened."


End file.
